


It Will Leave You in the Morning (And Find You in the Day)

by Datonemarvelgeek



Series: The Losers Club One-Shots-- Not going to lie, it's more Reddie [7]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Anger, Ben Hanscom is a Good Friend, Beverly Marsh is a Good Friend, Bill Denbrough is a Good Friend, Character Death, Depressing, Explicit Language, I'm Sorry, Love Confessions, M/M, Mike Hanlon is a Good Friend, Not A Fix-It, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sacrifice, Sad, Sad Richie Tozier, Soft Ben Hanscom, Soft Richie Tozier, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23562799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Datonemarvelgeek/pseuds/Datonemarvelgeek
Summary: Set after the final battle with IT.Richie Tozier sat up in his hotel room, an empty feeling in his heart, unsure if he had a heart at all anymore. Maybe it wasn't there.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: The Losers Club One-Shots-- Not going to lie, it's more Reddie [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688815
Kudos: 11





	It Will Leave You in the Morning (And Find You in the Day)

Richie Tozier sat on his bed in the hotel room and threw his clothes in his suitcase. Tears stained his face and sobs racked his body. 

_Why?_ He thought. _Why Eddie? Why did he have to save me? Why? Why? Why?_

A knock on the door ripped him from his thoughts. "Richie?" Beverly's soft voice said. "Rich, are you okay, honey?" 

He started to nod, but a loud sob escaped his lips and his body was once again shaking uncontrollably as she hugged him and he cried into her shoulder. "Why, Bev?" He asked her. "Why Eddie? Why did he have to die? Why not me?"

"Richie..." she frowned. "Sweetie, don't say that." 

"Well, why not?" He shouted, slamming his fist against the wall, making Beverly flinch. "If I wouldn't have tried to be funny and get myself caught in those goddamn deadlights, Eddie would still be here!" He fell to his knees in a sobbing, crying mess. "It's my fault!"

"Richie." She fell down beside him and cupped his stubbled jaw gently. "Babe, I know it's hard." She choked out a sob. "Hell, I miss him too. We all do." 

Richie took her wrist gently in his hand and pushed it away and stood up. "Right." He pushed past her and zipped up his suitcase. "Better tell Myra the news." His voice was cracked and harsh. "She needs to know."

"Rich..." Beverly started as she stood but Richie was already halfway down the stairs.

"Move." He pushed past Ben, his shoulder slamming into his hard enough to bruise, as he walked on by. 

"Richie!" Ben called out.

"Ben." Beverly grabbed his wrist as he started to go after him. "Let him go, honey." She gripped his arm gently, her small arms wrapped around his bicep as she pecked the top of his shoulder, watching the door slam before Richie. "Let him go," she whispered and heard his car crank outside.

_______

"H- hey, Eds. Can I call you that? Eds?" He stood on the Kissing Bridge. "I know you always hated that." He chuckled softly. "I know we had our differences, but I'll be fucked if I wanted this." A tear hit the faded 'E' on the wood. "You weren't supposed to go. Fucking hell, if it weren't for me!" He kicked the bottom board. "If I wouldn't have tried to be myself." He fell in front of the carved letters. "I'm sorry, Eddie." He took out his knife from his pocket. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault." 

Richie wiped his nose on the sleeve of his jacket and sobbed as he recarved the 'R+E' into the aged wood. "You can rest now, Eds. You put up a hell of a fight." He kissed the tips of his fingers and brushed them over the carving and stood up. "You were braver than I could ever be." He stepped back and smiled softly. "Rest easy, Eddie Spaghetti." 

He got in his car and drove until the town of Derry faded from his view forever.

____2 Years Later____

Richie stared out his penthouse window at a little wren sitting on the fire escape while he drank coffee. A blanket was around his shoulders, pulled snuggly around him as his phone pinged from the kitchen table and he picked it up. 

_Bev: Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey :)_

He laughed as he texted back: _Morning, sunshine :)_

He set his phone down and walked to the door, opening it to find Bill standing in front of him, his fist raised to knock. "Hello." Richie raised his fist, matching his and Bill laughed, lowering his fist. 

"Bruh- brought you breakfast, Rich- Richie." He handed him a bag with a sausage biscuit inside it.

"Thank you, Bill." He opened the bag and took out the biscuit. 

"Good morning, Richie." Mike walked through the door.

"Morning." He sipped the rest of his coffee as Ben and Beverly walked in. "Oh, is this a party?"

"Sorry to show up unannouced, Rich." Ben set a smoothie down in front of his friend. 

"But?" He looked at them and they all looked at each other and then at Richie. "I'm fine, guys. Really, I'm fine." He took a bite out of his breakfast. "See?" He smiled a large smile, food still in his mouth.

"Ew." Bev whispered as she sat down at the bar, Ben's hands on her shoulders. "Richie, honey. It's been--"

"Two years? I know. That's the past, guys. Nothing is changing that, okay? Now, let's not make this depressing, and do something worthwhile, okay? Okay." 

"Okay," Mike said quietly.

"Okay." Bill and Ben said in unison.

"Okay, fine." Bev looked down.

"Thank you." Richie crossed the room. "Now, what can we do today, huh? There's rollerblading, ice skating-- ooh! There's a new fro-yo shop open downtown we could try!" His eyes sparkled.

"If that's what you want, Rich." Mike chuckled.

"I'll get on some pants and we can get going." He made his way down the hall to his room and grabbed a pair of cargo kakis and started to slide them on, losing his balance and slamming into the dresser, hard. "Fuck!" He ground in pain as the corner jabbed his ribs. "Ow." He whispered and something fell to the floor.

He bent down to pick it up, his pants around his ankles. He stood back up and his hands trembled when he saw the old photo. 

It was of him and Eddie in the old hammock in the clubhouse. Eddie had a look of anger on his face while Richie had an amused goofy smile on his. He smiled at the memory of that day. A tear had hit the old Polaroid as he heard footsteps stop at the entrance of his room. 

"Forget where your pants were?" Bill walked in. 

"No." Richie shook his head. "No, more like I stopped to say hi to an old friend." He wiped a tear from his cheek and Bill smiled softly as he looked at the photo. "I can't get him out of my head, you know? I try to distract myself so I'll forget like I did the first time. It's like that annoying little pipsqueak finds his way back into my mind." He sucked in a deep breath. "Man, it's like I'm stuck in a time warp when I look at this."

"The good ol' d- days." Bill smiled.

"Minus the clown, yeah." Richie smiled. "Good ol' days."

_________

"It's been twenty minutes, the rule was ten minutes each." Eddie stepped in front of Richie, startling him.

"I don't see a sign." Richie looked up and looked around the clubhouse and back at Eddie to see a smile on his face.

It was nearly dark and the crickets outside were vocal but there was still plenty sunlight to see.

They were the only one's in the clubhouse. The other Losers were home. Probably still scared shitless, which is why Richie was so surprised to see Eddie out so late at night. 

"You're such a dickwad." Eddie plopped down beside him in the hammock. 

"Says you." Richie threw a comic book and hit him in the head with it. 

"Richie." Eddie's eyes softened as he looked at him. 

"Yeah, Eds?" He looked at him.

Eddie opened his mouth just as a giggle was heard and a pair of boots and pale legs were seen climbing down the ladder, followed by jeans and a baseball tee. The other three following afterward.

"Hey guys," Mike said, smile still plastered to his face.

"Hey." Richie pursed his lips together, wanting the moment with to last. "I was just telling Eddie how it felt to be inside his mother." 

"So not funny." Eddie shook his head. 

"I- I think we should t- tuh- take pictures. So we can remember the s- summer we kicked ass." Bill told the Losers.

"Starting with Richie and Eddie." Beverly held up a Polaroid camera and Richie smiled goofily and Eddie looked angry from the previous comment made by Richie as Bev snapped a quick photo.

"Oh, Eddie..." His past self said.

_______

"Lighten up." He whispered, a tear escaping his eye and landing on Bill's shoe. He looked up and saw the others gathered around him. "You guys really don't have to comfort me, I'm fine." It came out as a choked up sob.

"The hell we don't." Ben crouched in front of him. "You need to be comforted on days like this."

"It wasn't like this until..." another sob. Another tear. He was crying again and this time, the emotions racked his body so hard his ribs hurt. "Until the picture." 

"Oh, Rich." Beverly held him tightly. "Let it all out, honey. It's okay. It's okay to cry."

"He will never get to grow old and be more of a hypochondriac and pester us into taking our medicine." Richie croaked out. "Be a pain in the ass, complaining about the wrong prescription or some shit." 

"Two years is a lot to swallow, man." Mike hugged him.

"I've been choking on it, Mike." He patted his back gingerly. "Guys, I've always wanted to say this, but I've never known how." He shook his head. "I loved him. Eddie was my reason to smile, you know?" 

"We know." Bill nodded. "And s- so does Eddie."

"You think?" He smiled a bit.

"Of course he does, sweetheart." Bev smiled. "Eddie always knew because Eddie felt the same way."

"What? No, he didn't."

"Why else would he have tried to save you?" She pushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear. "He sacrificed himself for you, Rich. What's more of an 'I love you' than that?" 

Richie sat for a moment, thinking: _Did Eddie love me?_

"We'll be waiting." Beverly kissed his temple as they stood and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Richie with the photo in his hand. 

"I miss you, Eds," he whispered. "My Eds. My Eddie Spaghetti, but you have to get out of my head, man." He stared at the photo. "Who am I kidding? Eddie Kaspbrak is worse to shake than STDs." He sighed as he stood up and pulled his pants on, followed by a clean shirt and placed the photo back on the dresser and walked to the doorway before he turned to face the dresser again, hand on the lightswitch. "Rest easy, Eddie. I love you," he said as he turned off the light and walked out to join his friends.


End file.
